Every day, Le Parisien is mobilized to answer your questions. Today, Gilles' questioning relates to the number of cases of patients with coronavirus: "Are the people declared carrying Covid-19 in France people tested or simply declared positive following symptoms corresponding to the disease? "
Every evening since the official start of the epidemic in France, the Directorate General of Health (DGS) has issued several reports: confirmed cases, people hospitalized, people in intensive care and deaths. In total in France, 40,174 people have been diagnosed by Covid-19 screening to date (figure stopped on the evening of March 29).
This excludes, however, all people diagnosed but not tested, and whose condition did not require hospitalization. The total number of French people infected could therefore be much higher. Especially since, according to the Pasteur Institute, 30 to 60% of people are asymptomatic: they develop little or no symptoms (cough, fever, breathing difficulties ...) related to Covid-19. They will therefore never be aware of their possible infection.
As many experts and political figures repeat, the official number of cases is therefore only "the tip of an iceberg". The number of screening tests could however increase in the coming days in France. On March 24, Olivier Véran, Minister of Health, informed of the increase to 29,000 tests per day (compared to 9,000 so far). This could offer a more precise overview of the number of people affected.
In the meantime, Jérôme Salomon, Director General of Health, prefers to focus on another indicator of the seriousness of the situation: the number of people in intensive care. It is "the most important element," in order to "predict our ability to take care of the most serious patients," he said on Sunday evening.
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You can ask us all your questions about coronavirus by filling out our form or directly at coronavirus@leparisien.fr. Find all the answers previously published on our dedicated page.